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South of the Nagoya Urban Area, Japan, on May 17, 1945:

Case number:

ACUFO-1945-05-17-NAGOYA-1

Summary:

In the report of the XXIst Bomber Command Tactical Mission No. 176, flown by the B-29's bombers of the 58th, 73rd, 313th and 134th Bombardment Wings on May 16-17, 1945, the target being the Mitsubishi Aircraft Works at the South of the Nagoya Urban Area, Japan, there was a section about encounters of "balls of fire" by the airmen, as opposed to enemy planes, flak and other mundane observations.

Among these observations of "Unusual Types" and "balls of fire", we find that...

... One aircraft was followed by an unidentified plane described as a ball of fire. The object was first sighted directly after bombs away at 1848Z. This red or "flame-colored" light stayed at the 5 o'clock position until the B-29 began to take evasive action. The object fell behind, and then caught up again. An attempt was made to pull away by increasing speed. The object remained ln the same relative position apparently with no effort. Power was then reduced, and the object also slowed down. As far as could be judged, the object remained approximately 300 yards behind the B-29. Its light appeared to be about the same size as a B-29 landing light.

Data:

Temporal data:

Geographical data:

Witnesses data:

Ufology data:

Classifications:

Sources:

[Ref. aaf1:] US ARMY AIR FORCE:

This report was of the 21st Bomber Command Tactical Mission No. 176, flown 16-17 May 1945, the target being the Mitsubishi Aircraft Works at the South of the Nagoya Urban Area, Japan.

The units involved were the 58th, 73rd, 313th and 134th Bombardment Wings. The initial point (IP) was at Biwa Lake, landfall was at O Shine.

The report below appeared in the "Enemy Air Opposition" part of the report. This part included information about the enemy aircraft encountered during the mission and what these did.

But in this "Enemy Air Opposition" part, there was also a section titled "Observations of Unusual Types", followed by a section "Balls of fire", in which several observation of what was thought to be other things than planes, rockets, flares and flak, appeared. It included:

[Ref. prt4:] JAN ALDRICH - "PROJECT 1947":

[Ref. fge1:] FRANK L. GRUBE:

[Ref. dwn1:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

Aircraft information:

The Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" was the heaviest bomber of the US Army Air Force, used in operations from May 8, 1944 and on. Its maximum speed was 574 km/h.

Its defensive armament was 12 Browning M2 12.7 mm machine guns.

[Ref. dwn2:] DOMINIQUE WEINSTEIN:

[Ref. tai1:] "THINK ABOUT IT" WEBSITE:

Discussion:

In the 2000s, ufological sources recorded numerous observations, neither more nor less strange, coming from reports of bombing missions on Japan by the XXIst Bomber Command; but this one does not seem to have been found.

It is obviously not entirely possible to completely exclude that it was an enemy plane. But the sighting was not considered as such in the report, being noted in a section regarding "balls of fire" instead of the section regarding enemy aircraft.

Sometimes, crews thought they encountered "Baka" rocket planes, and they sometimes did; in this case the description does not fit. The Baka rocket exhaust was always described with terms such as "3 feet wide and 15 feet long", and always at the rear of the Baka.

This observation shows several typical characteristics of what has been called the "Foo-Fighters": the following maneuvers of the plane despite the escape maneuvers of the plane, and the absence of attack by the ball of fire.

In the present case, we can of course exclude a rocket, an air-air bomb, a balloon, a meteor, a searchlight, a flare, etc. The only "ordinary" explanation which would be "the least worst" remains that of an enemy plane. But the behavior does not correspond to this, the ball of fire remaining within firing range of the B-29's machine guns, which would be madness on the part of a Japanese pilot. We also note that as the ball of fire does not fire any shots, the B-29 probably did not fire either, because if it had done this it would have been noted in the report, with the result.

Evaluation:

Possible extraterrestrial craft.

Sources references:

* = Source is available to me.
? = Source I am told about but could not get so far. Help needed.

• [aaf1] * Tactical Mission Report No 176, APO 234, XXIst Bomber Command, US Army Air Forces, May 16-17, 1945.
• [prt4] * "ACUFOE in World War II", catalogue by Jan Aldrich, Project 1947, USA, October 9, 1999, at http://www.project1947.com/47cats/acupdt.htm
• [fge1] * "Z Square 7 - A B-29 True Story", book by Frank L. Grube, Publishers' Graphics, L.L.C. publishers, USA, page 91, 2002.
• [dwn1] * "Appendix 1 - Catalog of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena - reported by Allied pilots (1942-1945)", catalogue by Dominique F. Weinstein, France, June 20, 2005.
• [kcr1] ? "Strange Company - Military Encounters with UFOs in World War II", book by Keith Chester, Anomalist Book publisher, USA, page 166, 2007.
• [dwn2] * "The Foofighters Files (1) - Catalogue of Unconventional Aerial Phenomena Reported by Allied pilots during WW II (1943-1945)", catalogue by Dominique F. Weinstein, France, October 2009.
• [tai1] * "1945: May UFO & Alien Sightings", web page on the Think About It Website, USA, June 22, 2016, at https://www.thinkaboutitdocs.com/1945-may-december-ufo-alien-sightings

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